Hogwarts And Shankspell
by CNJ
Summary: In April of their seventh year, the Hogwarts students visit an American wizard/witch school in NYC & are in for an interesting week as they learn about American culture. Complete!
1. Flight to the States

Have a new one here! Thanks for reviewing my other stories; I love reading the reviews and others' stories as well! Enjoy this one where the Hogwarts students do America in April of their seventh year! 

**Hogwarts And Shankspell**

_By_: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**1: Flight to the States**

**Harry**: 

"I can't believe we're almost in America!" Hermione called across the aisle of the muggle airplane to me that April at the start of our spring break.   
"Me either," I smiled back. We sure were on our way to the United States, all of us seventh years for a student exchange trip. We're spending a week in New York City and will be visiting the students of Shankspell Academy of Sorcery there. We were all very excited about the trip. Since the States is too far across the Atlantic to apparate or use floo powder, we had to travel there by muggle means, which involved an airplane. It felt weird, like being on a huge broom in the air, but enclosed. I'd been on a plane a couple of times as a baby when Mum and Dad had taken me to Italy and to a couple of Islands, but of course I had no memory of it. It was my first time ever in the States, mine and for two of my friends, Ron and Hermione. Cheria had been to the States once before when she was eight.   
"It's pity these muggles don't space these seats properly," Ron told me from behind.   
"What?" I called over the noisy blowing of the engines.   
"I said these seats..." Ron looked around to make sure none of the muggles overheard us. "Are too cramped together. We're quashed all together in this row." I nodded. Thinking about it, I guess they are a bit close. But I had room to move around and I had several books that I was reading, including one good American one, _A Begonia For Ms Applebaum_. It takes place in New York and is written by Paul Zindel. Parts of it are very sad, other parts are funny. I took it out, pushed up my glasses, and continued where I'd left off. Across the aisle, Hermione and Cheria talked about various American customs and Ron and Clara talked and giggled behind me. Two rows ahead of me, our deputy headmistress and Madame Hooch, the flying instructor/Quidditch coach talked softly and once Madame Hooch got up, I think to pee. There's a very tiny loo in the back.   
"_Please fasten your seatbelts, we are getting ready to land in New York City_," a voice over the loudspeaker told us. "We will be landing there in approximately half an hour." My heart beat faster as I checked my seatbelt. We looked around at each other and Ron let out a short bellow.   
"We're almost there!"   
"God, we made it!" "I can't believe we'll be seeing the States!" were some of the other voices that floated around our seating area. Madame Hooch scrambled back to her seat and sat, glancing over at us to make sure, I guess we were seated and all right. My stomach bounced some as I felt the aircraft lose altitude and my heart beat faster as the clouds faded.   
"I see it, the States!" Neville called.   
"Me too!" Hermione added. "And there's the Statue of Liberty!" Sure enough, we could see the chunk of land and I got a glimpse of the figure of a woman by the shore. I gasped in delight. It was so beautiful! There were tons of buildings all over and I wondered if New York City was as big as London. An excited chatter exploded among us as we talked about what we planned to see and do once we landed.   
"Oh, Lavender, this is going to be so swell," I told Lavender, who was next to me.   
"This will be great," she grinned. The bounce told us that we'd finally landed in the United States. Were we in for quite a week! 


	2. Welcome to the United States!

Hi, finally almost done with finals! God, I just finished a crucifying exam last week! Sooo, finally, I have a slot of time to update! Sooo, here's more of the Hogwarts students' American experience...the usual disclaimers that none of the characters that Harry Potter fans recognize are mine. The American characters and Shankspell are mine, however, but alas, dear Harry belongs to the wonderful JK Rowlings. Thank you, JK, for bringing a dear like Harry to all of us! Upward and onward with...   


**Hogwarts and Shankspell**

_By_: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**2: Welcome to the United States!**

**Harry**: 

The next few hours went by at breakneck speed. Once we landed and got our luggage out, our professors led us out of the airport and McGonagall led us to a taxi. We split into several, actually. They were so big compared to the cars back home in England!   
"Where to?" the driver asked. It was interesting hearing the broad, rather flat American accent.   
"Broadskniets Inn," Hooch told the driver. As we headed there, the driver peered at us a few times curiously even though we were in muggle clothing. Broadskniets Inn was right in downtown Manhattan in the middle of New York City. We spent the ride gaping around at all the sights. The buildings were tall just like the ones in London, but they were more glass, steel, and sleeker.   
"Look, the Statue of Liberty!" Cheria suddenly bellowed. We jumped, then peered over to the right and sure enough, in the distance, we could see a faint green statue of a woman with a torch. I gasped softly as other muttered things like, "Wow..." "That torch looks like a wand..." "She's beautiful..." She kind of faded in and out like an apparition over the New York Harbor. It was a twenty-minute ride and we were let off at a Station called Times Square. We met the others there and McGonagall blew her whistle, then told us, "Follow me..." We did until we reached the Broadskniets Inn, which somewhat resembled the Leaky Cauldron, but it was more western in appearance. People of all sizes, colors and shapes milled around and there were dim fluorescent lights all over in different colors. McGonagall led us to the back and tapped her wand three times on a huge kettle in the back. The kettle split and opened onto a huge street filled with stores and to the right was a huge building that housed a horde of big stores. All of us were talking away as we headed down the street, which was named Gridley Alley. Just like Diagon Alley, I thought.   
"That's what they call a mall or a plaza," Hermione told us as we passed the store cluster. "They have those lots here in the States." We passed several more store clusters or malls on the way to a huge tube that resembled cars connected together. Once again, we gaped at the sights. There was an exciting mix of people and other species! I saw elves, goblins, and little halflings among the humans. I also heard a diversity of languages spoken along the streets. The United States truly is a country of immigrants, I thought. Once we got to the tube, a tall witch met us there and welcomed us with a smile.   
"I'm Professor Anne Waltrane, Principal of Shankspell. Welcome to the United States." We greeted her in return as we gathered onto the tube. In the States, Headmistresses and Headmasters are called _principals_. It wasn't a ground tube like the Hogwarts Express, but it lifted into the air and over the Hudson River. All Professor Waltrane had to do was tap her wand over a console-like board at the front and say, "Shankspell Academy, please."   
Shankspell Academy was a tall building that resembled a large flat building. It was mostly red brick, but had some curved archways, large windows, and a miniature Statue of Liberty over the door. It was a really pretty, bright building. _Shankspell Academy of Sorcery_, square magical lettering floated over what I took to be the front entrance, which was a large glass door. My heart banged in excitement as all of us became quiet with anticipation.   
"Bloody wicked..." Ron muttered.   
"God..." Lavender added as we went in. The inside was exquisite too in a different way than the stone castle structure of Hogwarts. Shankspell had high enchanted ceilings too, but there was more brick designs and some magical patterns dancing on the walls. Outside their...Great Hall, I figured, was an enormous moving mural of various American scenes, especially many Native American scenes. I'd always been curious about the first Native Americans and I thought I'd even seen some on the way here and suspected that Professor Waltrane had some Native American in her. It's really too bad that back then Europeans invaded this place and drove most of them far west, where so many perished. We'd studied about that in Muggle Studies and it's just so sad.   
"Come on in, your tables are ready..." A professor poked his head out. "I'm Vice-Principal Jonathan McClure. And here is the Grand Rotunda." The Grand Rotunda was Shankspell's equivalent of our Great Hall. We poured in and were introduced. The Grand Rotunda was a large, round room with tables of different shapes.   
"Students...these are the Hogwarts students from London, England," the professor went on. He had thick, salt-and-peppery hair with a short beard, but no mustache and was a bit on the round side. "Let's give them a huge welcome to America!"   
"Welcome to America..." "Hope you have a great visit here..." "Wait till you see some of the cool stuff we have here!" were some of the greetings as we sat among the American students. My friends and I managed to grab one end of a table. The students here are just as diverse as the general American wizard population, I realized in delight. I noticed several denim robes among the robes and made a mental note to at least try on something denim before I went back home. All around, I noticed several halflings sitting among the humans and even a couple of merpeople and someone who had what appeared to be a lizard's tail and hind legs. Hermione had already gotten acquainted with two witches next to us and were talking a mile a minute about the histories of both schools. The two witches introduced themselves as Barbara Maroni and Lira Goldmeyer. I mostly listened and Ron, who was mostly talking to a big heavy wizard across from him named Ben Bosentra, occasionally tossed a comment in our direction. Cheria also went back and forth between the two groups as well.   
"Hey, is it true that you all defeated this powerful evil wizard last fall?" Barbara asked us.   
"Yes, we did," Ron grinned. He told them about our Gryffindor retreat and how we surrounded the evil wizard Voldemort last fall on a windy November night and chanted good spells until he'd dissolved into ashes. They'd vaguely heard of the evil wizard that had terrorized the London magical community for years, but didn't have too many details of the actual defeat. Lira, Barbara, and Ben told us about a few evil sorcerers that had been on this side of the ocean, but none of them had been as powerful of Voldemort had been so far. There had been a group of death eaters, only they're called _sorcerkills_ here, that had run wild around the New York magical world until a group of their students had caught them using a special spell that froze them in the act until their aurors caught up with them. The night went by quickly as we ate and by the time we were shown where we'd sleep, which are adjacent to the Shankspell dorms, I was full and kind of grinning.   
"Their Quidditch teams are about top speed in this country," Ron told me as we lay down. Shankspell has three houses here...Hudson, Grenswith, and Libertrar. I wonder if they are named after their founders?   
"Ummm..." I was nodding off already. It's so neat meeting a different culture. They were on spring break later this week, so we'd sit through some of their classes at first, then see the city in the second half. I was looking forward to this week.   


More later! 


	3. Magical Classes American Style

**Hogwarts and Shankspell**

By: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**3: Magical Classes American Style**

**Harry**: 

"...so, if we all watch, this wormwood juice will turn bright orange in a matter of minutes. It's the kind most used by medics to relieve pain on a broken bone," Ms. Bane told us the next day in Potions. All of us...Hogwarts students among the Shankspell students gathered around the huge cauldron in the middle to watch the dark grayish-green potion brighten to orange. We Hogwarts students had gotten temporary schedules and were split into different classes. Cheria, Neville, and I were in this one. So was Lira Goldmeyer, one of the students my friends and I had met at dinner yesterday. As we waited, I stole a glance around. So many different faces. The uniforms were somewhat similar to Hogwarts, but the robes were plaid designs. The background color was brown, but each house had a different color cross-design for the plaid stripes themselves. Libertrar students, I could see had green for their cross-color. The two other houses had either red or blue; I want to say that Hudson had the blue color.   
"Heyyy, here it comes; it's turning!" A merperson crowed. We peered in and sure enough, a bright orange spread over the liquid. Not only was it bright orange, but it was a clear, crystal orange, not opaque. It actually looked lovely. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Hermione**: 

"...so that's how the women's suffrage passed in Muggle America," Nora Sanchez finished her point in Muggle Studies.   
"It sure was a long clumsy process," Todd Mercurio added. I nodded in agreement. It sounded rather ridiculous that the muggle American government had to go through two-thirds of state legislature government just to get this important amendment passed.   
"But consider it was 1920 when things were less advanced," Brinmirth Long added. I was enjoying this discussion on the law that freed muggle women in the States and enforced their voting rights. We'd studied the same things back home in the UK and the muggle parliament of Britain back then hadn't been much better. I voiced this out loud.   
"So what year did witches in England get the vote?" Nora asked me.   
"Eighteen sixty-five," I told them.   
"Wow, that's better than American witches..." Barbara Maroni put in. "We didn't get the vote in the American magical world until eighteen eighty-six, same year that the Statue of Liberty went up."   
"Odd irony, isn't it?" Parvati mused. "Lady Liberty's a muggle site, yet muggle women still didn't have the vote."   
"It was ironic," the teacher, Ms. Searles added. "So ironic that muggle women's groups gathered by in boats to point out this irony." We were all quiet a minute as we thought this over. In both American and British magical worlds, the vote was put straight to the people, both wizards and witches and of course, it passed. It had been the first vote witches took place in.   
"When my grandma was growing up, many Quidditch teams still excluded girls and women," another American student put in and we were off in a discussion on that. I remembered how back in our second year, Harry, who was the first of us to join Hogwarts Quidditch had been very surprised that the Slytherin team had no girls and that in our third year, Cho Chang had been the only girl on the Ravenclaw team. I smiled softly as I remembered also that Harry had completed a term paper last month on the women's movement in the muggle and magical world. He'd let me, Cheria, Ginny, and Ron read it and it really had been a great paper. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Ron**: 

_Will you get a load off the cheesy tie he's wearing_, the note Ben Bosentra tossed my way said as we watched the display of animigus throughout history. I peered at Mr. Hathway's tie, but didn't see any cheese on it. Cheesy... Ben was grinning my way, so as Mr. Hathway droned on in this sleepy monotone, I tossed a note back. _Sorry, where's the cheese?_ I'd written. _It's funny-looking with the moving dots, but I don't see any cheese stains on it_. Ben kind of snorted, then wrote back, _Oh, maybe you don't use that term...Americans mean stupid-looking or bizarre when they mean cheesy_. _Oh_, I nodded. _So _cheesy_ means _tacky, I penned back. Ben grinned and nodded and we both laughed quietly. As Mr. Hathway droned, he glanced our way, but luckily didn't seem to see us with the notes. He didn't seem to notice half of what was going on actually. Two rows behind me, two witches played a silenced game of exploding snap while a witch and wizard at the back of the room made out quietly. Interesting lot of students and teachers here. The History of Magic teacher reminded me a little of Professor McGonagall with her bunned-up black hair and no-nonsense manner and their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher looked a little like our former Potions teacher, Snape, but he wasn't the huge crabpit that Snape had been; he'd been more positive and had a swell sense of humor. Cheria and I were sharing this Transformations class with mostly Hudson students. Across the aisle, Cheria showed me a couple of moving pictures of a Quidditch match. She passed them to me and from what I gathered, the teams were mostly Hudson vs Libertrar matches. The Hudsons stomped the Libertrars into the ground in four out of five of these matches. _Way to go, Hudsons!_ I penned back to Cheria as I passed the pictures back to her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Harry**: 

After two interesting, enlightening days at Shankspell, their spring break began. Of course, everyone whooped and bellowed once our last class ended and the whole hall lit up with talk of going into Gridley Alley tonight. From what my friends and I could gather, there was Gridley Alley and Yorkshire, which is adjacent to Gridley Alley.   
"All of you Hogwarts students are welcome to join us," Crystal Garcia told us as we headed back to the dorms to dump off our books.   
"How're students selected for their houses?" Hermione asked her.   
"A sorting necklace," Crystal told her. "First-years and new students put it on and the necklace reads into their heart arteries which then connects into the brain and decides which house they get into."   
"Wicked..." Cheria grinned. "At Hogwarts, new students have to put on a sorting hat. We have four houses...you might have heard...Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw." I smiled softly as I remembered that first year being so worried that I'd be put in Slytherin.   
"The Hudsons and Libertrars have had a fierce rivalry going for ages," another girl put in, who'd been walking alongside Crystal. I think her name was Nora Sanchez if I'm not mistaken. "Hudsons are known for being outgoing and bubbly, yet competitive and ambitious. Libertrars are very free-thinking, creative individuals in general. The Grenswiths keep to themselves mostly. They're more inward and are good planners." I've noticed that it's been mostly Hudsons and Libertrars that have intermingled with us.   
"It's like the houses back at Hogwarts," Ron told them a little about what each of our houses are famous for. Once we got to the dorms, we put down our books and got ready to go. Their password system is similar to Hogwarts; you say a password to a moving portrait to get in. The portrait just moves upward like a muggle garage door instead of opening sideways like Hogwart's portraits do. The Libertrar dorm has the Statue of Liberty model on theirs. I had to grin as she peered down at us, asking _password, please_... then lifted her torch even higher as her portrait disappeared upward.   
"Wait till you see Yorkshire," Nora told us with a grin. "There's also several magical sites around the city as well along with the muggle sites. It'll blow you all away."   


  


More later! 


	4. Magical Sites Of America

**Hogwarts and Shankspell**

_By_: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**4: The Magical Sites of America**

**Harry**: 

The next couple of days were an amazing array of so many different foods and cultures that it was like seeing a kaleidoscope and fall leaves rolled in one. We went to Yorkshire that first night of spring break and it was very similar to Hogsmeade. There was even a place similar to the Shrieking Shack in Yorkshire. I grinned as I looked down at a grassy patch around the dilapidated building, remembering how back in our third year, I'd sneaked over to the Shrieking Shack and had pelted Draco Malfoy with mud balls. Malfoy had been the biggest pain in the arse and had gotten worse until he was expelled just last month for assaulting aurors and Hogwarts security guards. For a while, I drifted apart from our rather large group and had wandered here by myself. It felt good to not be so afraid to go places alone. For many months, in fact for my fifth and sixth years, I'd been afraid to go anywhere far alone since the death eaters and Voldemort had been a big threat. Now, thank Merlin, most of Voldemort's followers are in Azkaban and Voldemort himself was reduced to ashes last November. I wandered around a bit more, then met up with the group again in a sweet shop much like Honeydukes. The streets were wider here and there were more store clusters that were malls. Ron, Ginny, Cheria, and Hermione had bags by their feet. I had a bag of my own with two denim robes in it.   
"I could really get a taste for American clothing," I sat. With us sat several Americans, mostly Hudsons and Libertrars along with one Grenswith.   
"Hello!" Two other voices chimed into our conversation.   
"Hi..." Nora waved. Beside our table were two short people who looked around our age. They had small rather skinny bodies, pointed ears, and large heads.   
"Join us..." Harvey Lang, a merman invited. They found chairs and we moved over and made room for them. "Remember the British students we told you about? Here they are..." Harvey and Nora introduced us. They were leprechauns who went to an academy in upstate New York, but were on spring break too.   
"Hello..." my friends and I greeted. I'd heard of leprechauns and read about them, but had never met them. The leprechauns were Merla and Youslover. They were so cute! They had dark brown rather rakish hair and big brown eyes. Most people, especially in the muggle world think of leprechauns as always being Irish and having red hair, but we know now it's not an accurate portrayal. Leprechauns come from all over Europe, but many of them come from Italy, Scandinavia, England, and Russia as well as Ireland. They also can have any color hair that humans have. Hermione says she's met Italian Leprechauns before. We had a good time talking until around late that afternoon when we had to head back. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Not only did I meet my first leprechauns, but I also tasted all kinds of foods I'd never tasted before, including some kind of meat tucked in a shell called a taco, a flat pie called a pizza, and something that looked like a Frankfurter, but ended up tasting like rubbery meat. I also had soy milk...but that was gross, so I swore that off. Most of the food was swell and I imagined the States had food from a thousand different countries. We also saw a historical display of the Grenner War, which took place between sorcerkills and magical people in 1912. It was mostly a memorial tombstone that resembled a long wall with names on it. We also heard that in the magical community in Massachusetts, there was a huge memorial to honor all those who'd died in the Salem Witch Trials of the 1600's. Not many muggles know this, but at the time, over ten thousand witches and wizard had been killed by ignorant people, mostly muggles who felt threatened by magic. Millions of American witches and wizards make a special pilgrimage up there every year. I made a mental note to one day make a trip up there.   
The weather was damper and warmer here and by the end of day two on the town, I was feeling rather gritty and my eyes stung some.   
"I think it's the salty air," Hermione told me when I rubbed my eyes again as we headed back to Shankspell at the end of the day. "New York is closer to sea level and on the coast, so it's more humid and salty here. I've been noticing a gritty feeling all over me too."   
"It makes sense," I pushed my glasses back up my nose. My hair felt a bit damp as well.   
"Ben told me that it gets really hot in the summer," Ron added. "He says the summer is when you really feel the saltiness and humidity."   
"I can imagine..." I was having a great time, so actually, the damp grittiness didn't bother me as much as it might have in another circumstance.   
"As soon as we get upstairs, I'm going to wash my hair," Cheria told us.   
"Me too," Ron put in. "Mine's getting oily just being in this air."   
"Who's ready to see muggle sites tomorrow?" Barbara Maroni and Nora Sanchez asked.   
"Meeeee!" all of us crowed.   
"Hey, can we see the Statue of Liberty?" I asked.   
"Yep, that's one of the first things we'll see," Nora told us. "I think the teachers will be joining us then.   
"To keep us magical folks out of trouble with the muggles," Brinmirth joked and we all got a good laugh at that as we headed in.   
  
  


Next chapter will be the muggle sites, esp. the Statue of Liberty! Stay tuned for more! 


	5. Muggle New York City

**Hogwarts and Shankspell**

By: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**5: Muggle New York City**

**Harry**: 

It had been so long since I'd been on the tube, but now here I was back on it with my classmates and American counterparts. Only it's called a subway here in the States. Somehow we managed to hear each other talk and laugh over the rattling whoosh of the train as it sped through the stations on the way to the New York Harbor. It also felt a bit odd being back in the muggle world and dressed in muggle clothing again. Even more odd was seeing some of my classmates in muggle clothing, the ones who'd spent all their lives in the wizard/witch world.   
"This is my first time in the muggle...this world..." Crystal Garcia told us.   
"It does feel a bit odd," I agreed. We had to be careful to avoid certain phrases here in the muggle world since the magical world is largely hidden from most muggles. Once we arrived, we milled off and Professors McGonagall and Waltrane led us to a patch of grass, explaining that this was Battery Park where many incoming immigrants met their friends and family. Walking out to the bay, there in the distance was a tall statue of a woman holding a torch.   
"Wow..." several of us gasped.   
"Eighteen eighty-six she went up," Ms. Waltrane told us. "Between eighteen eighty-six and nineteen twenty, she welcomed over twenty million immigrants to this country." I wondered how many of these immigrants were wizards or witches. We caught a ferry over to the Statue and once we got there, we gaped at how large it towered over us. There are buildings both in London and New York that are hundreds of stories taller than the Statue of Liberty, but somehow this Statue seemed much more significant, imposing, and...majestic. Ms. Liberty, as she's commonly called, had a very serious, yet warm expression on her coarse-featured face and her right hand held up a torch, which Ms. Waltrane told us was lit at night. Her left hand held a tablet. Her spiked crown held seven spikes and even the hair looked real with bangs and all.   
"Wicked..." Ron gasped, his jaw hanging open as he stared up at Ms. Liberty's head.   
"She was an immigrant herself," Hermione told us.   
"What?" Ron and Cheria looked puzzled as we entered the base of the Statue.   
"She was a gift from France," Hermione explained. I nodded, remembered reading something about that. Only small groups at a time can go up to the top of the Statue, so we had to rotate by groups of ten. Bit by bit, we managed. It was really incredible to actually climb the steep steps and see all the folds in her robe.   
"Awwwwesome..." I heard someone whisper. I gathered that _awesome_ was an American counterpart word for _wicked_. Being so long, we had to stop at several landings to rest and catch our breath. A few kids were able to sprint to the top, but not me. By the time we got to the top, I was sweating and all of us were panting. But the sight was truly breathtaking. You could see a good chunk of New York City from these small windows.   
"Hey, look, they started work on the new World Trade Center!" Nora Sanchez pointed out. Sure enough, new buildings were in the work where the old ones had been destroyed by killers much like death eaters, only they were muggle, so they didn't use magical means, thank Merlin. Like in the magical world, there are people like the death eaters who kill without conscience, then disappear, only I've heard them called terrorists in the muggle world. This happened nearly four years ago at the beginning of our fourth year and from what our American counterparts told us on the way down, both muggle and magical America had been deeply affected, especially New York. Once all of us had a chance to see the immigrant museum and go up to the top of the Statue, Ms. Waltrane had us line up by a closet door.   
"What's in there?" Ben asked.   
"You'll see..." she smiled at us, then led us in. At first, the closet seemed very small, but as we entered, Ms. Waltrane chanted a spell softy and the closet seemed to grow until it accommodated all of us, then Ms. Waltrane tapped the wall on the opposite end. The wall parted to another museum. We headed in.   
"This is the magical part of the immigrant experience," Ms Waltrane told us. "As most of you know, several million of the immigrants who came to America were also witches and wizards and they too struggled to make a new life here in America. Some lived as muggles, but most sought the magical world here. Feel free to look around explore for an hour, then our next stop is Ellis Island." We fanned out, peering around. There were hundreds of moving pictures of the newly immigrated witches and wizards starting new lives from scratch in a new country. My throat tightened as I watched several pictures of immigrants struggling in poor paying-factory work and living in squalid conditions, struggling to learn a new language. There are no magical ways to learn a new language and magical immigrants' lives were not much easier than muggle immigrants' lives. Some of them couldn't find any work in the magical community and had to accept work in the muggle world, which made it all the harder on them.   
"Oh, wow, look at this beautiful poem!" Hermione whispered. I came over to the end of the hallway and saw the plaque which had a lovely poem written by a muggle by the name of Emma Lazarus. It was about giving America their tired, poor and things like that and ended with _send those, the homeless tempest tossed to me_.   
"God, it's lovely," I whispered, touched. How lost so many of these immigrants must have felt! Yet most of them struggled against great odds and made a good life here. Ms. Waltrane then gathered us up to head to Ellis Island, which was another ferry ride away. The air here was really salty since it was right on the water and even my mouth tasted a bit salty. Ellis Island was a big red brick building and once we got in, it seemed even bigger.   
"It was up these great steps and into the big room with the dividers that the immigrants came into to be processed," Ms. Waltrane told us. The place was getting crowded now that it was around noon. We walked up the stairs and saw the long dividers where the immigrants stood in line.   
"Keep in mind," Ms. Waltrane told us softly, so that the muggles didn't hear. "Many of the magical immigrants had to keep brooms and other magical supplies hidden, since no immigrant wanted to be thought of as odd." So it was doubly hard on witches and wizards, I thought, my heart squeezing in sympathy. We looked around at the displays and at the strange-looking muggle bags and luggage. They'd come from so many different countries! Once we were done, we were ready to eat, so we headed back to Liberty Island by ferry and ate a picnic lunch on the grass by the Statue.   
"My great-grandparents immigrated from Germany," a girl said softy. I think she was Marcia Wellsburg. "They were witch and wizard and they always suspected one of the inspectors was a wizard since my great-granddad has a broom he'd shrunk. The inspector didn't question him on it and later once they were admitted, told them how to get to the magical world here."   
"They were lucky," Kathy Mines told her. "So many had to find it on their own by trial and error. Magical inspectors were few from what I'd read on Ellis Island."   
"I wonder what our lives would be like if our ancestors immigrated here?" Ron wondered out loud.   
"We might not have met each other," Cheria's eyes widened.   
"Harry and I would say we were Irish-American," Hermione put in. It's true. Hermione and I both have long-ago ancestors who came to England from Ireland fleeing the potato famine in the eighteen-forties. My great-aunt Miranda tells me that that's how the Potters met some of the Gryffindor family once they got to England.   
"I could say I was Jewish, even though no one in my family practices it," Ron added. Some of the Weasley ancestors from the eighteen-hundreds were Jewish. Once we were finished eating, we slowly stood. Ron then grinned and pulled a shrunken version of his broom out of his pocket.   
"Hey, don't let the muggles see that," I whispered.   
"I won't." Ron charmed the broom to normal size. "Have your broom? Race you around the Statue." I pulled out my small version.   
"But how will...?" I started. Ron enlarged mine too. "Ron, someone will see us..." I worried.   
"Not if we go invisible!" Putting on an invisibility charm he'd carried with him on both of us, he took off. I grinned, then climbed on my broom for a trip around Ms. Liberty myself. After all, no one could see us now and it was a great chance to see Ms. Liberty's great face up close. She looked huge this close and I had to struggle to keep my broom straight as I swerved around her and to the back. I was behind Ron and tried to surge ahead, but my broom spun suddenly and the next thing I knew, I was headed straight toward Ms. Liberty's back! I managed to swerve the broom at the last minute, rolled off and landed painfully on my arse. My Firebolt clattered beside me.   
"I woooon!" Ron crowed, coming down to the grass with a triumphant whoop. I sat up, my face twisting in pain. "Are you all right?"   
"Trying to be..."   
"Boys, what is going on?!" McGonagall exclaimed, coming up to us. Whoops. Uh-oh. The invisibility charm faded now. McGonagall hastily shrunk our brooms and ordered us to put them away.   
"Sorry, Professor..." Ron gave a sheepish grin.   
"Whoops..." was all I could think of to say as I blushed, then shakily stood, clutching my arse, which still throbbed.   
"_Whoops_ and _sorry_ are right, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley," McGonagall told us sternly. "You're very fortunate you weren't hurt and that the bobbies didn't see you or you two would have a lot of explaining to do. Twenty points off Gryffindor and don't let me catch either of you pulling that stunt again." We nodded, then gathered up our things to head back to the main city.   
Professors Waltrane and McGonagall let us head to Greenwich Village while they headed back to Shankspell for the day. So we took the tube and went there. In some ways, Greenwich Village reminded me of Picadilly Circus. But it was also unique in its own American way. There was this one artist who did caricatures of people.   
"That is an..." I searched for the American word I'd heard at the Statue. "...ayy-some...picture," I told the bloke who was working on it.   
"Aysome?" the bloke looked puzzled, but smiled anyway, figuring it was a compliment.   
"Aysome...cool...neat," I explained.   
"Say, you're not from the States, are you?" He looked up and pulled down his sunglasses to look at me.   
"I'm visiting from England," I told him.   
"Figured so. Is aysome a British slang term?"   
"N-no..." I had the feeling I'd pronounced the word wrong and felt myself blush a bright red. "I thought it was an American term."   
"I think he means _awwsome_," Ben laughed from behind me. The bloke laughed too and I smiled weakly. Of course. It's pronounced with a aww sound. "And it really is. Oh, hey, I'd like to buy that one of Bush skidding down the stairs." Ben bought the picture and the bloke grinned at us.   
"So, how would you like this awwsome pic?" the bloke asked me.   
"I guess so..." I fished out some American muggle bills and handed them to him and bought the picture, which was a group of office workers huddled by a window grinning out. "Pleasure meeting you."   
"Mine too....thank you." We walked on down the streets.   
"You're quite a guy back home, I bet," Ben grinned.   
"Yeah..." I nodded, feeling some of the flush return to my face. "In a manner of speaking. Especially when I first started at Hogwarts." Especially since I'd been a bit of a curiosity in the wake of my parents being killed and me being the first one to survive Voldemort's curse.   
"So, when you first arrived...?" Ben asked.   
"There was this evil wizard you all heard about when we first came here," I explained a little about how all of us Gryffindors defeated Voldemort last November in a low voice. "I'm...I'm one of the few that survived an earlier attack." I cleared my throat nervously.   
"Wow, you were quite a guy!" Ben grinned. "Or quite a bloke, as you English say."   
"Thank you." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Do you suppose the American magical community elects their minister the same way they do in England?" Hermione asked as we walked along a narrow street by a row of high flat buildings.   
"Maybe they vote like they do their muggle president," Cheria mused.   
"I bet theirs is the President of Magic," Ron suggested.   
"They probably have a House of Congress that mirrors their..." I felt a sneeze coming up my nose and struggled with it a minute. "...m-muggle House..." I sneezed. Come to think of it, my nose was feeling a bit funny now.   
"Merlinspell..." the others told me. It was growing dark, so we headed for the tube and headed back to Shankspell. One more day, then we'd be heading back home. By the time we got back, my nose not only felt strange, but my throat felt like I'd swallowed sandpaper and I had a slight headache. Dinner was waiting for us, but for some reason, after a few bites of dinner, my stomach felt queasy, so I excused myself and headed upstairs. I had the feeling I was getting a cold. Oh, dear, I thought as I sat at a low night table to write out a letter to my aunt Miranda. I headed down the hall to borrow one of their owls to send it, then as I entered the dorm, my nose began to run and my eyes started stinging. I ran into the bathroom and grabbing tissues, blew my nose and rubbed at my eyes, my glasses sliding down my nose. Pushing my glasses back up, I grabbed a lot more tissues because I had the feeling I was going to need them tonight. Then I went to bed with a book. Even reading the print was hard because my eyes watered and smarted often and my headache got worse. My gritty throat turned into a fully-blown sore one. Finally, closing the book, I blew my nose again, then turned over and went to try to sleep.   
  


More later! I think it'll be just one or two more chapters, then it'll be complete! Hope you all have enjoyed this exchange trip between American and English witches and wizards! 


	6. Back In England

**Hogwarts and Shankspell**

_By_: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**6: Back In England**

**Harry**: 

  
  


_Dear Aunt Miranda,_   
_ Hello! How was your week here? Just got back home a few minutes ago from the States_. _ Had a swell time there and it was sooo intriguing meeting people from another culture! Actually, it was like meeting several different cultures, since America is a melting pot_._ The climate is much more humid there and a bit warmer_. _I don't know if that's the reason I now have a cold_. _ Oh, the American students were so interesting and I learned a lot about Americans just by being with them_. _ They were very warm and welcomed us so kindly_. _ I loved visiting the States and hope I can visit again_._ It's also good to be back home also_._ You might have gotten the notice for the Enlightenment on May 6_. _ All the seventh-years are chatting about it now_. _ The dorm is a mad array of clothes and all kinds of just-unpacked things_._ My friends and I have a ton of dirty clothes we'll be washing tonight_. _ It's soo good to be back here in the good old United Kingdom! Oh, Auntie_..._Auntie, I can't believe we'll be graduating in one month! Neither can my friends; we talked about it all the way home_. _ The flight back was a bit bumpy and my ears hurt, but we came back in one piece_._ Excuse me if my handwriting is a bit bumpy itself here; I'm coughing now_. _ It's just a cough from this cold; don't worry; it'll clear up in a week or so_. _ Just wanted to let you know I was back; I'm going to unpack now. I love you and will owl you again soon_._ Bye-bye now_. 

_Love, Harry_

  
  
  


Hedwig was leaning on me, rubbing against me, so I gently stroked her, happy to see her again. "Careful, girl, I have a cold and I know you don't want to catch it," I whispered to her and gave her the letter and a handful of treats from the States. "Give it to Aunt Miranda..." She nodded, then flew off. She seems to really understand human language. I stood and started digging out my own luggage. A denim robe landed on my head.   
"I believe it's yours, Harry," Neville grinned as I pulled off the robe.   
"Thanks..." I told him and joined the others in pulling out their things and putting it away or to the wash. It was chaos for the next few minutes, but then things quieted down once we were unpacked. Most of the others took off in different directions, but I stayed in the dorm, lay down and penned a letter to Sirius to be sent later, then pulled out a book that I'd bought in the States. Actually, I'd brought back several, but it probably would be summer before I had a chance to read most of them since in the coming month, I'd be very busy with the Enlightenment and getting ready for graduation. Taking a brief look around, I knew one of my tasks would be to sort through all of my things, so they'd be ready to pack and take back home for the summer, then again in the fall when I got ready to move out on my own and start college. Definitely, I was headed to Andrews and Wallace Arts College this fall; I'd already sent in my response accepting their invitation to attend. My stomach jumped a little, then twinged at the new challenges and experiences that would inevitably come with adulthood. I then blew my nose and started on my book...   
I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I knew, Ron was shaking me and telling me it was time for dinner. Groggily, I drifted down after him, still half-dreaming. As I headed to our table, I starting coughing...again and that woke me more. I sat, ducked my head and kept coughing for what seemed like a long minute.   
"Harry, that cough sounds different now," Hermione told me. I nodded, my hand still over my mouth. I knew I sounded awful. Now that she'd mentioned it, I realized that my cough had gone from a hacking one into a barking one. Dumbledore ninged on the bell up front and we all listened to him welcoming us seventh-years back from the States.   
"...I trust all of you had an enjoyable journey and learned much," Dumbledore announced. He then suggested that seventh-years volunteer events from the trip. Hermione told everyone about the immigrants' experience, including the special problems that magical immigrants faced. Cheria talked about the women's movement and the Statue of Liberty. Ron told about our race around Ms. Liberty and everyone, including McGonagall chuckled and I had to grin. I added my story on meeting the leprechauns and the diversity of the American students, both muggle and magical. About a dozen other seventh-years added their experiences, then the food appeared and we began to eat. My appetite was poor, so I actually ate little.   
"So, what's it like on a muggle plane?" a third-year called across.   
"Wicked..." Ron told her. "Like being on a broom, but it's also like being in a huge box in the sky." Just then, owls started pouring in and I got one from Aunt Miranda. Ginny and Ron also each got one. Ron actually got two...I saw his face tighten as he looked over one beige envelope.   
"What's...?" Ginny peered over. Ron cleared his throat nervously and showed us the envelope. It was from Braxton University. I knew he was very nervous since he'd been rejected from Bartmey U. a month ago; it had really hurt him deeply. I myself tensed up.   
"Want to wait until later or do it now?" Hermione asked softly.   
"I'm afraid to open it, but I know if I don't do it now, I'll be a wreck by the end of dinner," Ron said shakily. He then started to rip it open, his hands shaking. _Please_..._oh, please_...I could hear him mutter fearfully under his breath. He swallowed audibly as he pulled the letter out and read it. A second later, his face broke into a huge grin and he whooped.   
"I got in!!!!" he bellowed. "I'm accepted!!!" We all joined in the whooping and backslapped him. Others looked over.   
"I got into Braxton U!" Ron told them loudly. He exhaled shakily and helped himself to a pile of shepherd's pie meat.   
"That's great, Ron; I'm so happy for you!" I told him. Now he could make his college plans. Next year would be Ginny's turn and I sincerely hoped it would go well for her also.   
"Upward and onward with our adult plans," Ron took a huge bite of the lemon pie that had turned up for dessert.   
"It's a good thing we have lots of food here, since I suspect our planning for graduation and adulthood will be very...hunger-producing," Hermione added and we all laughed. I started to laugh, but that started me coughing again. I really wished this cold would get going and leave me alone soon. I grabbed some napkins and ducking my head, sounded almost like Fang, Hagrid's dog for the next few minutes. I felt someone stroke my back once. Looking up, I saw Colin Creevey pass by, peering at me a minute. I was still barking away, so I took a huge sip of pumpkin juice, a little embarrassed at Colin's fawning over me. It's nothing new; Colin used to follow me around with a camera in my second and third year, snapping pictures. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Ginny**: 

I really was going to miss my older friends once they left. I was almost over my sixth year and next year it would be my turn, mine and a friend of mine I sometimes hang about with, Shamla Curran. She's in my year, so we'll graduate together next year. I was also relieved that my brother had made it into Braxton U. He'd been unusually tense waiting for that letter and I'd heard that he'd been rejected from another college earlier. I'd be meeting Shamla back in the common room to go over some Potions notes with her in a few minutes. As I headed back upstairs, I went the long way and passed by the front doors. It was a mild night and the doors were open. Outside, by a tall tree stood Hermione, Ron, Cheria, and Harry quietly talking with pensive looks on their faces. I watched them a minute, silently wishing them good luck next year, then went on upstairs. As I went, I thought over them...Ron, my brother whom I'd known all my life...meeting Harry at Kings Crossing Station seven years ago when he and Ron were both first-years. _Excuse me_..._he'd_ called politely back then. At first, I thought his face looked somewhat familiar, but couldn't place it. Mum had shown him how to get onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters. I could tell he'd been nervous and I'd wished him good luck. He seemed unusually mature for an eleven-year-old boy then and it wasn't until after he and Ron had left for Hogwarts that I heard through the grapevine that he was Harry Potter, the boy who'd been the first child to survive an attack by Voldemort. Ron owled often, mentioning Harry and how wonderful and kind he was and I'd developed a crush on him for a couple of years. I met Hermione, their other friend when I started at Hogwarts. She'd shown me the ropes at Hogwarts and had really taken me under her wing with her efficient, some would say bossy manner. I'll be forever grateful to her for her kindness and for her befriending me when I was an insecure first-year. Cheria had come in our fourth year and wound up sitting by us at meals, then eventually began hanging about us late in our fourth year and by their fifth year, her friendship with us had solidified. Together over the years, we'd been through so many ups and downs. Together all of us along with the rest of the Gryffindors had defeated Voldemort for good back last November that windy night in the dark woods of Quarry Grounds. It was hard to believe that it was almost over. The thought made my heart pang. I knew, however, that we'd keep up our friendship beyond Hogwarts even though we'd be scattered about. It's always hard however...I guess you could say it was the end of our Hogwarts era. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Harry**: 

It was a lovely mild night, so we had the perfect excuse to stand outside in the twilight and watch the sun set and talk quietly. As the glow from the sun faded and the sky faded from deep orange to a cornflower blue, then to a dark blue, I thought it was fitting for the ending of our childhood. _The sun setting on our teen years_, I thought.   
"What...?" Cheria asked me.   
"Oh..." I started. I didn't realize that I'd spoken out loud. "I was just...thinking..." I coughed a couple of times. "...about things." The others peered over at me a minute.   
"As they say in the States..." Ron told me. "A penning for your thoughts?"   
"Just about the sunset and how...it's setting on our childhood," I told the others in a soft, rather sad voice. The others looked over westward.   
"Yeah..." Hermione nodded. "Symbolic, isn't it?"   
"I wonder how our American counterparts are doing...especially the graduating students," Cheria put in.   
"Probably having a lot of the same fears and worries as we are," I said softy. I coughed again. My nose began to run, so I had grab a tissue from my robe pocket and blow my nose again. I just hoped I wouldn't be blowing my nose a lot for another reason at graduation, but I had the feeling that I would be...being the sensitive cornwallop I know that I am.   
"It was swell seeing America," Ron added. "I hope I can go again later on in adulthood." It was growing late and we still had one more month of our seventh year to complete as well as gear up for the upcoming Enlightenment, so we slowly drifted inside. Just one more month and it'll be over, I thought as I lay down to sleep a while later. No, wait, this era of our lives will be over, but next fall a new era will be beginning. It was a muggle saying I'd heard, but it also applied to the wizard/witch world as well, something to the effect of one door closing and another one opening. Our task was to get ready for it and when it came, meet it head-on.   
  
  


_Storyline Copyright_ 2003 by **CNJ**

  



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